Important headlines for December 1st:

By Brian Mudd

Important headlines for December 1st:   

Bottom Line: These are the stories you don't want to miss (but probably would if I didn't find them for you)...   

 As we're on the precipice of meaningful tax reform I've been increasingly asked which version of tax reform I prefer more. Maybe if we cross our fingers, toes and pray we'll get the best of both but here's an overview.  

Individual taxes:  

  • House plan: 4 tax brackets  
  • Senate plan 7 tax brackets 

Savings with standard deductions applied: 

$25,000   

Savings: $961 (Senate) vs $795 (House) 

$50,000   

Savings: $2,281 (Senate) vs $2115 (House)  

$75,000   

Savings: $2904 Senate plan vs $3051 House plan 

Advantage: Mixed, if you earn under $75,000 per year the Senate plan is advantageous. If you earn more than $75,000 per year the House plan is better until you reach the top tax rate (which kicks in north of $400k).  

Business taxes:  

  • Flat corporate tax rate of 20% both plans 

  • Senate plan pass through rate of 31.8% or less for sole proprietors, S corporations & partnerships vs 25% flat House plan rate  

  • Deductions limited but not to the extent of House plan   

Advantage: House plan 

Individual mandate repeal:  

In the Senate plan only 

Advantage: Senate plan 

If I were forced to choose one plan over the other I'd opt for the Senate version due to the inclusion of the end to the individual mandate. The beauty of the reconciliation process is that there actually might be a way to create a bill that's better all of the way around. 

Most importantly, and I want to continue to be as clear as possible, if you pay federal income taxes you benefit meaningfully from either plan period. Anyone who tell you differently is lying. Period. I ran all of the calculations and provided two different two-part series on each plan depicting with more detail why this is the case.    

Excerpt: New York Times editorial board took over the paper’s opinion Twitter account, which has around 650,000 followers, “to urge the Senate to reject a tax bill that hurts the middle class & the nation’s fiscal health.” By urging the Senate, it meant sending out the phone number of moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins and imploring followers to call her. In others words, the board was indistinguishable from any of the well-funded partisan groups it whines about in editorials all the time. 

The actual message of the tweet was this: Contact @SenatorCollins, (202) 224-2523, particularly if you live in Maine, and ask her to oppose the Senate tax bill because it would repeal Obamacare's individual mandate, driving up the cost of health insurance. #thetaxbillhurts 

The New York Times isn't just engaged in leftist editorializing - it actually is engaged in open activism! Here's the irony of the "New York Times" attempting to bully a Senator from Maine. It's corrupt, it's dishonest, it's GSS media in action. 

There's nothing left to be said. 

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